Cuba: before Castro (part 1)

The following is a brief summary, from a study by the Canadian Embassy in Havana, about the Real History of Cuba. In our Part 2, Cuba, with Castro. The irrefutable facts, not available in the libraries of Miami, in our so-called freedom of expression.

Before 15th Century and Spanish Conquest

Three groups of aboriginal people (about 100,000 persons) have been decimated by the Spanish, who imported 750,000 African slaves to provide labour for sugar and tobacco plantations

1511: First settlement in Baracoa, north of Guantanamo.

The conquistadors of Diego Velazquez benefited from Spain, which granted each one a few Indians from whom tributes could be extracted. Aboriginal people were eventually wiped out by mistreatment, disease and their use in exploratory expeditions to Florida and the Gulf Coast.

1762: Strategic location for Spain : naval base and shipping centre.

1860: Havana is briefly occupied by the British.

Cuba’s population : 1.3 million, mostly working on the sugar industry.

1868: Major supplier to US and production of one-third of world’s sugar. First War of Independence, following a growing Cuban nationalism, but no real conclusion, after 10 years. Spain’s promises are not delivered.

1886 : Slavery is abolished in Cuba. Considerable interest in the country from American plantation owners. Numerous attempts to buy the Island from Spain. British and American capital start playing a major role in the economy.

1895: Under the leadership of Jose Marti, revolution broke out. He is killed in the first year, but battles continue over three years, against 200,000 Spanish troops. Cuba severely damaged.

1898: A suspicious explosion aboard the USS Maine in Havana Harbour, provides the United States with an opportunity to join the rebels and declare war against Spain. Four months later, Treaty of Paris is signed. Spain ceded possession of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines and Cuba.

1899: January 1st, : Independence of Cuba, as an American protectorate. The New Constitution included clauses imposed upon Cuba by the US under the Platt Amendment, which seriously compromised Cuban sovereignty. The US intervened militarily on subsequent occasions to support the parties it favoured.

1933: A former army sergeant, Fulgencio Batista, with support from United States, overthrew the president Machado.

1934 : Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the so-called « good neighbour policy », sponsored initiatives that abrogated the Platt Amendment, except for continuing rights to the Guantanamo naval base.

1944: Batista stepped down and emigrated to Florida, after exercising power in Cuba through surrogates.

1951: Batista returned to Cuba, and again, with the assistance of Americans, displaced the elected government in a coup d’etat in 1952. Within two weeks, the US government recognized the new government.. Batista subsequently ruled through a brutal and corrupt dictatorship. (How about our great principles for democracy?)

1952: Fidel Castro, a young lawyer, announced his candidacy for the June election. The said election is cancelled. One year later, Castro and 150 young revolutionaries launched simultaneous attacks on two different army barracks. Unsuccessful, Castro is imprisoned.

1955: Castro is released into exile in Mexico, but his famous statements and quotations in the courtroom, are regarded by the observers as Cuba’s modern declaration of independence. In Mexico, Castro meets with an Argentine medical doctor, Ernesto Che Guevara. They organized a return to Cuba.

(Next week, Part 2: Cuba with Castro).

The Facilitator

PS > We encourage you to read the following articles:

- Being Smart with Cuba (September Archive)

- The Mistake of Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy (September Archive)

- How to promote Democracy (September and October Archive)

- Cuba: Time to change course

- The Day, Castro will never die